Hi All,

Would anybody please be so kind to provide advice on triplet feeding schedule. Our GGB are 5 months adjusted (G1-15lbs, G2 18lbs, B20lbs) and we still aren't able to drop a middle of the night feeding. We have been giving them their nightly routine of bath time and last bottle and cereal at 7PM ish, they are usually down by 7:30 or 8PM and go down fairly easy. Then the girls are up at 1 or 2pm almost every night and then they get up about 5AM then. Our boy is a wild card and sometimes will go all night or sometimes wake up with the girls.

We've heard some people (singleton moms) say push them until 9 or 10 at night but i don't see how that is possible plus we need down time or we'll go crazy, even an hour between 8-9PM is helpful to recharge. We both work full time so it's not realistic to keep them up til 10PM.

It would be great to hear even what day time feeding/sleeping schedules might work. We are just kind of at a loss because we sort of thought they might be sleeping for an 8 hour stretch by now at night. So maybe our day time schedule is screwy.

Thanks,
Dan

Dan,

Our kids are 6 mo. old, real age or I guess 4 months adjusted? That whole adjusted deal screws me up but anyway, here is our schedule. The wieghts on our babies is roughly the same as yours, 15, 16, and 17lbs.

Feed: 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm. 8oz per baby per feed, we mix in cereal and baby food at the 11am and the 3pm feedings.

Sleep: They take a nap in the morning and a nap in the afternoon, time varies from 45 minutes to hour and a half. By the time the 7pm feed is over, we get them settled, rocked and down the house is quiet by 8:00pm-8:15pm. It is smooth sailing till about 2am and one loses a paci and we jump up to put it back in, then they go back to sleep this goes on with the two boys from 2am till about 7am, our girl pretty much crashes the entire time and she doesn't take a paci.

This is what is working for us right now, I get super frustrated with the middle of the night paci runs but at least I am not having to sit up in the middle of the night to feed them.

Not sure if this helps or not. How much are you feeding them during the day and at the last feeding? Hang in there man, it does get better, I THINK!

Todd

Proud father to BBG triplets, born 33 weeks, 2 days on 7/9/09.
Claire
Matt
Drew
http://themesserletrio.blogspot.com

Our trio will be 5 months old this Friday. They have been sleeping at least 8 hours at night since they were about 10.5 weeks old and they CAN sleep 12 hours straight. I keep them on a pretty tight schedule through the day. We still feed every 3 to 4 hours (depending on how they start out the day eating) through the day. This is just an example of our schedule on most days:

7am- Wake up, feed
8:30am- Nap
10am- Feed
12pm- Nap
2pm- Feed
3:30pm- Nap
5pm- Feed
7pm- bath
8pm- Feed, in bed for the night.

Most days our schedule changes a bit, if they have not taken enough formula through the day we do one late night feeding about 9 or 10pm to "top them off." BUT that means that we go in and wake them up or "dream feed" (feed them while they are asleep) we do not keep them up until then. Usually if we do the dream feed it only takes 15-30 minutes. I like them having 5 feedings through the day instead of just 4 (if you are on a 4 hour schedule you can only fit in 4 feedings per day, that is why I switch back and forth between 3 and 4 hours) because we have an issue with them taking enough formula and their weight gain slowing down.

Shely~ Mom to 1+bbg

Also another thought on this subject... sleep gets sleep. If you put them to bed for the night over tired usually it will backfire and they will not sleep well. If they are resting well through the day and getting good naps and they are not tired when you put them down, they have a tendency to sleep better at night. (Yes you read that right haha!)

Shely~ Mom to 1+bbg

That "sleep gets sleep" thing doesn't pan out here. I have one who is an erratic sleeper. For the past two weeks I've been keeping a schedule, since she has started waking up at around 6:30 (though she can go from 8-8, more or less). One day she napped a total of 1 1/2 hours - slept from 8-6. Another day she napped 3 1/2 hours - she slept from 8-6. Plus there's no way I can get her to nap longer than she already does, so I can't get the "more sleep" to beget the "more sleep".

Amy

Julia, ^Caitlin^ (stillborn due to encephalocele complications) & Gabrielle
30 weeks, 2 days

We're Marching for Babies!

http://www.marchforbabies.org/asmaio

Our three are 6 mos old, 4 mos adjusted, and they have been sleeping from 6:30/7pm to 6am since early January. It's heaven! At 4 mos actual their last bottle was at 8pm and they slept until 5am.

Our daily schedule looks like this (though one DD only naps for 45 mins at a time, so she's consistently up earlier than the other two.):
6am wake up and bottle then playtime
7:30/8:00 down for nap
10:00am bottle then playtime
11:45/12:00 down for nap
2:00pm bottle then playtime
4:00pm down for nam
5:30pm bottle, upright for 20ish minutes
6:30/7:00 down for the night

We offer 8oz in each bottle and they usually eat between 6-8oz at each feeding for a daily total between 25-30oz. Our pedi gave us the OK to start cereal which we did five days ago. They don't really get it yet, so it's not a food source for them yet, just something they play with in their mouths.

We were told that at this age they should be eating 6-8oz at each feeding and have 4-6 bottles/day. Ours do very well on the four bottles/day and are definitely eating enough. What does your daily schedule look like and how much is in each bottle? We gradually increased the amount we offered them as we adjusted the feeding times until we ended up with this schedule. If they get enough to eat during the day, they won't have to get up at night.

Mom to GBG born in July 2009 at 30w6d: 3#10oz, 3#12oz, 3#2oz

Dan,

We're in the same boat as you. Our 3 five-month old boys are about 17lbs each and we recently switched to a 4 hour feeding schedule because our pediatrician said they were a good size for being 5 months. I was told they could eat as little as 24oz and as much as 32oz a day. They average about 26-28oz during the day and with a middle of the night feeding, they're at about 34 oz.

I love feeding every 4 hours because now I have time to do something for me during the day. My husband feeds the boys at 7am, which means, I don't have to do it until 11am. I put the boys down for their mid-morning nap at about 11:30 and they sleep sometimes 1-1/2 to 3 hours. I then feed them at 3pm and my husband takes on the 7pm feeding.

I love it because I'm only feeding 2x during the day (11am/3pm) and he does the 7am/7pm.

We were feeding them also at 11pm (me) but my pediatrician told me to see "how long they can go". Some nights they only make it to 1:30-2:00a.m, and others, they only need me to give them a pacifier and I can go back to bed and they wake up about 4:30a.m. I usually will give them a 4oz bottle if they are only a couple hours away from their normal 7am feeding.

At 5 months, I was told that if they are sleeping 6 hours/night that *IS* considered "sleeping through the night". Unfortunately, they're sleeping from 7:30pm - 2:00 a.m. rather than my preferred 7:30am - 7:00am.

I've had a few nights where they would actually go longer, and that is what my pediatrician said - they would be able to sleep longer and longer as they get a little bigger. I'm not going to sweat it - It stinks being the "mid-night patrol" but it's better than it used to be and the fact we feed every 4 hours now has given me some freedom from feeding 24 hours a day.

Also, when I feed in the middle of the night, I haven't been changing their diapers - we put them in the next size diaper and they seem to do okay until morning. This is great because I can put a 6oz bottle in each baby and they feed while they're "still sleeping". If one wakes up, I feed them all. If none wakes up, ...I sleep.

Deana

Indigo

Our schedule is similar to Shely's and I too am very rigid with out schedule. Our BBG are 5 months old and they have been sleeping through the night since about 2.5 months old and I think it is because of how strict we were during the day. We fed them every 3 hours even if that meant waking them up to do so.
Here is our schedule right now, give or take 15 mintues, at 23 weeks of age:

6:15 nurse
7:15 nap
9:15 nurse
10:30 nap
12:00 nurse
1:30 nap
3:00 nurse
4:30-5 nap
6:00 nurse
7:30 bedtime
9:30 dreamfeed

We haven't heard a peep at night for over 2 months now. We are in the process of dropping the 4:30 nap and hopefully the 9:30 dreamfeed. We just started rice cereal 3 days ago but that's not going to so well, but it is hilarious.

I really do think the key is to feeding them every 3 hours during the day. Also, putting them down to sleep awake, even if they don't seem tired. I hope that helps.

Suzy
BBG born 36w 2 days 4.6lbs, 4.7lbs, 4.9lbs

hi all, we have appreciated your response. we have come to the conclusion that the sleep habits of waking up all the time started when they had reflux and apnea monitors. now we are realizing that they are capable of sleeping better but that they need to be trained again. So we are doing a modified Ferber method. After 2 days of it, i'd say they are already starting to sleep better. we don't let them cry as long as Ferber suggests but they've seemed to "get it" in a relatively short period of time. time will tell but for now we are semi-encouraged.